Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher expect Manchester City to beat Chelsea on Sunday.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Neville suggested that it could be a narrow victory for Pep Guardiola’s side:
“I think it will be 2-1 City or 1-0 City. Should we go City 1-0?”
Carragher didn’t disagree with Neville but he said there is likely to be more goal-mouth action based on the fact that Chelsea have been poor defensively in the build-up to the match:
“I don’t see how there’s only one goal in that game, Chelsea have conceded so many goals in pre-season. City go two goals up, Chelsea get a consolation.”
The two pundits settled on a 2-1 win to City as their prediction, which seems like a fair assessment, considering what we know about the two teams.
City head into the match lacking full fitness
Bernardo Silva has praised his manager for being “generous” in terms of their time off between seasons. The European Championships and the Copa America mean that clubs have only given some of their players three weeks off.
In contrast, Guardiola has allowed his English and Spanish contingent (who played in the Euro 2024 final on July 14th) almost a full month break.
That does have knock-on consequences, though, with the likes of Phil Foden and Rodri unlikely to be 100% fit to face Chelsea. Guardiola has already warned that his team may need three or four matches to get up to speed.
City’s first-team squad is free of injury
Despite the aforementioned fitness problems, no one has suffered a major injury setback in pre-season, which will certainly aid the Cityzens’ cause.
Jack Grealish did miss the Community Shield but Kyle Walker has since said he should be fully fit for the weekend.
